1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a an improved feather or indicator that is secured to the side of a wooden stake or peg by a means penetrating the side of the peg. The feather is used to help locate the peg or stake that in turn locates the grade of the soil surface or a point on a survey.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the construction industry, staking is required for: (1) a topographic survey of the site to be used in the preparation of plans for a structure; (2) locating in the soil a system of stakes or other markers such as hubs, pegs or ginies, both in plan and in elevation from which the construction crew can take measurements of earthwork and other measurements for the proper construction of structures; (3) the giving of line and grade as needed to replace stakes distrubed by a construction; and (4) taking measurements necessary to determine the volume of work actually performed up to a given data as evidence of percentage of completion of work so as to support a contractor's payment. Additionally, temporary stakes or other markers are usually set at the corners of proposed structures, as an approximate guide for beginning the excavation.
When a stake is driven into the soil it may be driven by a hammer or with a stake driver, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,813,494 for the details of such a driver. Currently the location of the stake is found by the feather that is driven into the top of the peg or stake. There are two patents that claim this invention in different embodiments.
The first is U.S. Pat. No. 3,267,901. This patent discloses a grade stake feather made up of a bundle of strands of nylon filament. A staple is driven into the top of the stake to hold the bundle of strands in place.
The second is U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,835. This patent discloses a bundle of stiff, resilient strands attached to the top of a stake by means of metal hoop with a loop that contains the strands and which may be driven into the top of a stake or slipped over a nail.
My experience with the use of a feather fastened to the top of the peg or stake is that they pull out of the stake when installed as disclosed in the two mentioned U.S. Patents. I will described in more detail how feather pullout occurs in a typical construction process such as building a road. When a road is constructed excess gravel is brought to the road site and then watered and compacted with vibrating roller or other means to obtain the desired gravel compactness. Then a grader will cut the excess gravel and remove the cut gravel to another location. The operator of the grader determines the correct elevation of the road grade by cutting the gravel to the top of the stakes that have been previously driven or set to the correct grade. In the typical situation, the top of the stake is several inches below the top of the uncut gravel. When the top of the stake is so buried or hidden from sight, the operator of the grader finds the stake by the feather. I have observed that when the grader blade goes over the feather, the feather will bend over and be lodge between the grader blade and the top of the gravel causing a frictional force to develop between the feather and the blade. When the resulting force of the blade against the feather is greater than the friction developed between the parallel grain of the stake and the fastener that is driven into the top of the stake, the feather is pulled out. The feathers then have to be replaced if the stake can be found or worst a new stake must be driven or set. However, by securing my invention, i.e. securing the feather to the side of the wooden stake, the means for securing the feather, is driven perpendicular to the wood grain which results in much more withdrawal resistance of the fastener means. This reduces the number of lost feathers and in turn reduces the number of lost man hours and standby time to do a construction job because less stakes need to be replaced and related standby time for equipment and crew members who cannot work until the grade stakes are relocated is reduced.
Neither of the above mentioned patents recognize or suggest the advantage of driving the means for attaching the feather into side of the peg or stake so that the attaching means is perpendicular to the grain of the peg. The inventor of the patents actually teaches away from my invention when the inventor expressly limits the location of the means to attach the feather to the top of the peg.
The disadvantage of the prior art are basically eliminated by the use of my invention.